Nightmare
by BonneyQ
Summary: Gray gets into a nightmare induced by a spell and sees what it would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him. [Rated M because of graphic death]


**AN:** Well, this is about one of the darkest things I've ever wrote.

dopellai asked: _"You see I had the idea that one of Zerefs mages could see peoples weaknesses and use it"_

 _Warning to graphic death of characters_.

 **#**

 **Nightmare**

 **#**

It couldn't be true, Gray thought, looking at the bodies of his friends at his feet, eyes wide in terror and staring at nothingness, opaque and without life.

They were all covered in blood.

They were all dead.

He hadn't been able to save them, he wasn't strong enough. He never was strong enough. Everyone he cared about met that fate.

Gray tried to move, but Lucy's head was resting on one of his feet, her brown eyes staring at him as if she accused him of being weak (she wasn't wrong, Lucy had always been smart). Natsu's body was covering half of the blonde's as he had died protecting her – it was for naught. Erza was at his other side, a sword through her stomach. Poor sweet Wendy was not too far away, Charle, Happy and Mest not too far away. Master Makarov's remains couldn't even be found: all that was left of him was a pile of meat and blood.

Why had he be the only one to survive? How come he wasn't dead? He should be. They were, so he was supposed to be too. Why he always survived his nightmares? Why him?

"Gray-sama!" Her voice made Gray look up and he saw, not too far from where he stood, Juvia being held by a man he couldn't see the face of. Her dark blue coat had been torned, her green corset revealing itself and she had purple bruises in most places her skin showed. "Help! Please help me!"

The Man-Without-A-Face put a knife on her throat and Gray felt as if his heart had stopped and ice ran through his veins as he saw Man-Without-A-Face slowly cut Juvia's throat.

"NO!" Gray yelled. His magic didn't work for some reason and when he tried to run to her, he was unable to move. He looked down and saw his friends holding him down – half of Natsu's face was gone, Lucy's cheek had a gash so deep he could see her teeth, Erza's neck was snapped. They were looking at him with those dead eyes, and whispering, sounding a lot like snakes: ' _weak weak she'll die too because you're weak weak you'll never be strong enough she's dead because of you weak weak_ '.

Those words haunted him. He screamed, tried to get away, but they were too Strong while he was ' _weak weak_ ', the whispers filling his mind and Juvia suddenly started to scream again; "Oh, god, no! You killed them! You let them die and now I'll die too! Help me please!"

Gray tried to fight, but the hands had a strong hold on him. And suddenly he also felt arms grab his torso; he was terrified to look behind him but he was also compelled to do it and when he looked, he felt the urge to puke.

Behind him, holding him, it stood his mother (her dark hair just like he remembered but instead of her beautiful brown eyes, there was just rot meat), Ur (frozen, her expression one of horror and pain) and his father (his skin half rotten).

" _weak weak you killed us and now she's going to die because you are so weak weak never protected anyone weak weak always so weak weak_ " They hissed in his ear, breath putrid and Juvia yelled for help. " _you'll live alone forever because you'll always be weak weak_ "

Gray wanted to yell, but nothing came out as panic rose inside him, all the people hissing around him ' _weak weak weak weak'_. The moment it terrified him the most, though, was when he looked as the Man-Without-A-Face grinned (his lips the only thing he could somehow see) and slowly slit Juvia's throat – rich red blood coming out off her wound.

He yelled, then.

"Not her! Don't you dare take her! Not her! Fuck!" Gray heard her choke, saw her eyes get wide and when the Man-Without-A-Face released her, Juvia fell on her knees and put a hand on her throat, looking at him confused and scared, knowing she was dying. "No! NO! NO! Juvia! No! No! No!"

" _we told you weak weak she died too because of you weak weak_ " The voices hissed and all Gray could do was to yell in utter pain as the scene unfolded in front of him. " _always going to be alone because you are weak weak_ "

Gray couldn't look away when Juvia's body fell on the floor, eyes wide and a pool of blood around her. He yelled until he had no more voice. He cried until there were no tears left. Then, he stopped fighting his friends, his family. They were dead because of him. Gray would always be alone.

He was weak.

 _Weak_.

 **#**

His eyes opened and he gasped for air, fighting off the person holding him. They still had him, his dead. They had him and they would make him suffer and that was what he deserved after he survived once again.

Gray shouldn't have fought, but instinct was hard to fight.

"You'll hurt yourself! Gray-sama, stop it, it's Juvia!" Gray heard and the blurriness of his vision started to fade away, his breathing calming down slightly while he tried to process the words. "Gray-sama, look at Juvia. Say something, please."

When his eyes focused on her, Gray couldn't believe. Juvia was looking at him, her blue eyes filled with worried, but certainly with light in them. She looked a little worse to wear, but nothing like before.

"Juvia?" Gray asked and his voice came out so raw he barely recognized it as his own.

"Yes." She sighed in relief. "When we arrived you were all down, but Levy-san figured it out what happened." She proceeded to explain something about a spell being cast that would make them live their worst nightmare while Gray sat down feeling dizzy. He looked around and saw that everyone was alive and well; shaken up if the tears were any indication, but alive.

They were _alive_.

He did _not_ kill them.

He did _not_ let them down.

A tiny voice inside his head whispered ' _not yet_ ' the same time Juvia touched his cheek gently and asked: "Gray-sama, talk to Juvia."

The next thing Gray knew, he was reaching for Juvia and pulling her into his arms for a tight hug. She gasped in surprise and the sound just made him hug her tighter; he could feel her breathing on his chest, her warmth, the smell of fresh rain coming from her hair.

She was alive.

"You're here."

"Gray-sama…"

"Not you." Gray whispered, hiding his face on her hair. "It can't take _you_."

"What?" She sounded confused, but Gray ignored her question.

"Just… Can we be like this for a minute?" He asked – it was very out of character from him, but he needed her close. Later he would check on the rest of his friends, but he had to hold her for a little while before that. Gray had to ground himself; he had to believe it all had been a nightmare.

Juvia put her arms around him (the scene was so very familiar to when his father died it felt a little like déjà vu). "Of course we can." She whispered. "Whatever you need to feel better."

Not trusting himself to answer her, Gray held on to her, trying to push away the nightmare from his mind, to focus on the present. It didn't matter how true the words he heard were true, he had a chance to not be weak.

He would take it.

He would protect them.

He would protect her.

 **#**

 **AN:** Not sure how I feel about this, but here it is. Sorry if it sucks.

I honestly believe that if we ever see Gray's worst nightmare, it will be something like him seeing all the people who died "because of him" and I just wanted to incorporate it.

07/28/2015 ~ **BonneyQ**


End file.
